Public's aid sought in death of cyclist

Police offer reward in hit-and-run case

May 12, 2006|By MELISSA HARRIS | MELISSA HARRIS,SUN REPORTER

On many weeknights, David Allen Overmiller would ride his bicycle five miles to his son's Elkridge house to spend the night and shower before his boss picked him up for work the next morning. The 58-year-old plumber's mobile home off U.S. 1, which he shared with two friends, had no electricity.

As Overmiller pedaled to his son's home about 9:40 p.m. May 4, a car struck and killed him on U.S. 1 near Troy Hill Drive.

Howard County police are seeking the public's help in identifying and finding the car's driver, who did not stop.

"Twenty-four minutes - it only took him that long to bike five miles," his son, James Weaber, said. "He was in good shape for 58."

Overmiller rode his bike, which he got from his son's brother-in-law, because he couldn't afford to pay an August speeding ticket from Baltimore County. After Overmiller failed to show up for traffic court, the state suspended his license and registration.

In late February, police pulled him over for driving in Anne Arundel County and impounded his car - his son's old Chevrolet Astro minivan, according to Weaber and court records.

Since last summer, Overmiller had struggled to keep a job, his son said.

Weaber's boss helped Overmiller get a job as a plumber at the Annapolis-based Wall Works Inc.

At the time of his death, he had been working there for a few months off and on because he did not have transportation and no one could pick him up every day.

"My boss was really trying to help him get back on his feet," Weaber, 39, said.

Overmiller, who had four children and was a Vietnam War veteran, lived in a wood-paneled trailer off U.S. 1 in the Maple Park mobile home community.

To cook, Overmiller and his housemates would boil water on a gas grill on their porch.

Krista King, 27, one of Overmiller's housemates, said that relatives first got a hint that something was wrong after his boss showed up at his son's house the day after the accident and found Overmiller missing.

"He had seen on the news that somebody had been hit along Route 1 and killed while riding a bike," King said.

"So we kind of knew before we knew because it wasn't like him to take off and not come home and not tell anybody," she said.

Pfc. Jennifer Reidy, a spokeswoman for Howard County police, said that the department is offering a $2,000 reward for information leading to an arrest.